Marked solid pharmaceutical form, and method for the production thereof by means of laser marking

Abstract

The invention relates to a marked solid pharmaceutical form including a continuous groove on the surface thereof, said groove preferably being 20 μm to 50 μm deep and preferably 5 μm to 120 μm wide. The invention also relates to a method for marking such a pharmaceutical form by forming at least one groove therein by means of laser ablation of the surface of the solid form, said method being such that the laser ablation is carried out with laser energy of 0.1 to 500 mJ/mm 2

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A marked solid pharmaceutical form comprising at least one continuous groove marking its surface, each groove being of a depth lying within a range from 20 μm to 50 μm. 
     
     
         2 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , wherein each groove has a width lying within a range from 5 μm to 120 μm. 
     
     
         3 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 2 , wherein said range is from 10 μm to 100 μm. 
     
     
         4 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , wherein each groove forms a closed continuous line. 
     
     
         5 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , wherein each groove has a length lying within a range from 250 μm to 3 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 5 , wherein said range is from 250 μm to 500 μm. 
     
     
         7 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , wherein the surface of the pharmaceutical form has an average roughness depth, as measured by the standard ISO 4287:1998, lying within a range from 10 μm to 40 μm. 
     
     
         8 . The pharmaceutical form according  claim 7 , wherein said average roughness depth lies within a range from 20 μm to 40 μm. 
     
     
         9 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , which comprises at least two grooves each forming a closed continuous line. 
     
     
         10 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , wherein each groove is inscribed in a square with a side lying within a range from 100 μm to 250 μm. 
     
     
         11 . The pharmaceutical form according to  claim 10 , wherein said range is from 200 μm to 250 μm. 
     
     
         12 . A method for marking at least one solid pharmaceutical form according to  claim 1 , said method comprising forming at least one groove by ablation of the surface of the solid form by means of a laser ray, wherein the laser ablation is performed with a laser energy lying within a range from 0.1 mJ/mm 2  to 500 mJ/mm 2 . 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein said laser energy range is from 0.1 mJ/mm 2  to 250 mJ/mm 2 . 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein said method comprises supplying a laser ray source, supplying optical guiding means for guiding the laser ray to the surface of the form, supplying relative displacement means between the form and the laser ray, and producing a continuous groove on the surface of the form by means of laser ablation by the laser ray and by means of the relative displacement of the surface and of the laser ray. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claims 14 , wherein the optical guiding means comprises a focusing lens, with a focal length chosen from the group consisting of 50 mm, 60 mm and 100 mm. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein said laser ray source is an infrared laser with a pulse duration of 100 to 1000 fs, pulse energy of 0.1 μJ to 100 μJ, and a wavelength lying within a range from 1000 to 1,000,000 nanometers. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein said pulse energy is 0.1 μJ to 30 μJ. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein said wavelength is 1030 nm. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 14  , wherein said laser ray source is an ultraviolet laser with a pulse duration of 5 to 50 ns, pulse energy of 1 to 100 μJ, and a wavelength lying within a range from 10 to 380 nanometers. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein said pulse energy is 3 μJ to 100 μJ. 
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein said wavelength is 266 nm. 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein said optical guiding means comprises at least one means for separating the laser ray into a number of secondary rays so as to form a number of continuous grooves on the surface of the pharmaceutical form. 
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 22  wherein said number of secondary rays form said number of continuous grooves simultaneously.